* ''./Need_To_Process/'' Any new files, photos, etc that I need to process into Gramps. Kind of a holding area.

* ''./Need_To_Process/'' Any new files, photos, etc that I need to process into Gramps. Kind of a holding area.

−

= Duncan's system =

−

I'm still working this one out but here goes... I have an NTFS partition which I can access from both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux, that's where I keep all my genealogy files. Because my main computer for doing genealogy work switches between two machines every now and then I name the directory after when I move it to that system. At the moment it's called ''Database_in_2008-06-20'', which I won't type every time, consider './' to mean 'the main directory'.

−

./Backups/ - has GRAMPS XML files as backups, I do this about once a month and after any large change.

+

= Duncan's system =

−

./Dropbox/ - has anything I haven't dealt with yet (it's quite full!)

+

−

./Events/$EventNames/ - has media files which are primarily related to an event.

+

−

./Individuals/$Surnames/ - has images primarily related to an individual. The files are sorted after the persons (birth) surname.

+

−

./Individuals_icons/ - has passport sized images use for generating reports

+

−

./Places/$Country/ - has files primarily related to a specific place. I will start subdirectories by country.

+

−

./Rapports/$Surname - has some rapports I've sent out.

+

−

./Sources/$Source - has all sorts of files which contain direct information, scanned letters and so on... Sorted by the source's source.

+

−

./2008-03-11_4.gramps - there are often quite a few of these backups which I go through and put a couple in the ./Backups/ directory and throw the others out.

+

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I don't think this system is so great so I'm working on improving it, see below.

+

'''The goal'''

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= Duncan's planned system =

+

I've decided to aim for a system designed to work on any computer made after 1994. This means I can put the files on virtually any media and virtually anyone can read them. But this comes at a cost:

* Is it really necessary with the '-' between date parts? ie: why 1810-12-28 when it could be 18101228?

+

−

** One problem is if people forget to add a zero before single digit dates. With the dash we get 1810-01-22 or 1810-01-22 but without it if they forget the zero we get 1810122 which could mean 1810-01-22 or 1810-12-02. I say better safe than sorry.

+

−

== Problems in progress ==

+

Indicating unsure or incomplete dates

−

* When I want to work on one family with a small portable computer?

+

--1810ca--

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** all folders need to under the family name directory, for families under a dual name directory, children under their own family name.

+

or

−

* What about a family portrait not from a known event?

+

--1810-09ca--

−

** I think it's best to regard pictures of groups as an event, maybe event=gathering

+

or

+

--1810before--

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or

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--1810-09-15before--

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or

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--1810-_-10--

−

== Directory tree ==

+

'''Directory tree'''

−

+

−

The base directory is not shown. A name like Imported_2008-12-23 is recommended to record when the data was moved to this machine from some other machine.

+

Directory naming rules:

Directory naming rules:

−

• Single letters should be lower case, but some windows filesystems will change this without warning. So don't rely on it.

+

* Top directory is <upper case letter><lower case start of range>-<lower case end of range>, ie ''Aa-z'' for all the ''A''s or ''Sl-z'' for surnames starting with ''Sl'' through to ''Sz''. This may look like overkill but it is primarily to avoid directories with letters in only one case as these can change case without warning on older Windows systems, breaking Posix file paths.

−

• Start words in directory names with capitals, this discourages file systems from changing the case.

./Places/ (photos of gravestones, living places, buildings or addresses)

./Other/ not in the first ... (videos, sounds, groups photos)

./Other/ not in the first ... (videos, sounds, groups photos)

−

I will not add subdirectories.

+

Media related to my direct family and myself are on the top level of my media directory, close to my grandparents' folders.

−

Also, all objects are duplicated on an other support (backups and searchs) with my grandparents' surname :

+

−

./Surname of the mother of my mother (maiden)

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All objects are also duplicated on an other support (backups and searchs).

−

./Surname of the father of my mother

+

−

./Surname of the mother of my father (maiden)

+

−

./Surname of the father of my father

+

−

And I use attributes on my database (as marker). True, using relationships calculator should do the work but it is usefull for filtering and sharing data.

+

I use [[Gramps_3.3_Wiki_Manual_-_Navigation#Tagging|tags]] on my database and share the common branch/folder with my distant cousins.

−

Why attributes ? Adding this value (like a description) is not false ...

+

−

They are and will still be my ancestors on (father or mother side)

+

-- [[User:Romjerome|Romjerome]] 26 July 2008 (EDT)

-- [[User:Romjerome|Romjerome]] 26 July 2008 (EDT)

+

+

= Frederico's system =

+

+

I'm converting my physical storage system from a ad-hoc solution based on a 2-ring binder with all the documents (organised by the Soza number) to a vertical filling system that is organised by manilla folders that contain all the relevant information for each family. The focus is thus less on the individual and more on the family. Using folders allow for a much easier way to aggregate all relevant documents (certificates, photos, research logs, etc) and also facilitates research since each folder is pretty much self-contained and can be easily retrieved when needed, and taken to the archives for investigation.

+

+

With that in mind it makes some sense to mirror this physical approach when organising digital documents, especially since every document has both a physical copy and a digital one. I am experimenting with creating a directory for each family under a Sources folder (it could also be named Families, or any other name really), like this:

+

+

./SMITH,John+BLACK,Mary

+

./LEWIS,Edward+MCDONALD,Jane

+

+

The contents follow the same rules as the physical archiving. Of note is the fact that each person is generally present in two different folder: as a son they are present in the folder of the parents, and as one of the members of a family they have their own folder. Documents related to pre-marriage events go into the parent's folder, and from the marriage onward to their own folder.

+

+

Filenames follow more or less the examples given, e.g. BAP--John_Smith--1830.png.

+

+

The advantages I can see so far are:

+

+

* Consistency between physical archive and digital storage. It makes is easier to compare the completeness of both of them so they they are not our of sync.

+

* Easy to access all documents that relate to a family. Since many documents have information that applies to more than one family member it makes sense.

+

* Each directory can be archived and sent to someone else and all the relevant sources are contained therein.

+

+

Some disadvantages:

+

+

* Storing the birth certificates (or any pre-marriage information) of an individual not under his own folder but under the parents' folder can be a bit counter-intuitive in the beginning.

+

* Since it is Family based (and not Individual based) documents that relate to an individual are split between two folders.

+

* Sometimes one doesn't have information about the marital status of an individual, and when that is latter discovered files could have to be moved. An example would be the military record of an individual that doesn't contain information about his marriage, and since there is no other source that contains such an information it is not possible to create a Family directory. When latter that information surfaces those documents would have to be moved to the Family folder.

+

+

= Doug's System =

+

+

I don't do anything special: I put all images in one directory, mostly. But some are in other places.

+

+

My philosophy is: if I need something special, such as all media connected to a person, I'll add that functionality to Gramps.

+

+

Your philosophy could be: if I need something special, I'll submit a feature request to Gramps.

Latest revision as of 01:51, 25 January 2012

Contents

Jerry's system

/srv - I store all my server files in /srv, including WWW and Samba. This is the standard UNIX directory for "Site-specific data which is served by the system."

Then I place all my genealogy related files in a directory call ./Genealogy. The exact path may depend on how you are set up. Here are three different possibilities.

/srv/Genealogy/
/srv/Samba/Genealogy/ - If you use a samba file share.
/srv/Samba/Family/Genealogy/ - This has the /Genealogy in a file share of /Family.

This is the structure of ./Genealogy:

Basically there are three main areas. Books or publishing. Documents, which are the Media storage area. Gramps.

./Books_Published/ - All books that I have published, such as "Perkins Family History".

./Books_In_Process/ - Current book that I am working on.

./Doc/ - This is the big one where I store all the Media files. Nothing goes in here till it is put into Gramps Media. See the ./Need_to_Process directory below.

File Names:

I am big on "Noun Naming". This makes it quick and easy to find documents. Hence for the ./Census directory I use the file name format of <STATE>-<COUNTY>-<CITY><YEAR>-<ENUMERATION>-<PAGE>.jpeg For the Media Title I use Census <COUNTRY>, STATE>, <CITY / TOWNSHIP>, <YEAR ENUMERATION>, p. <PAGE> - <FAMILY>. The Source Tile is the same, except without the , <YEAR ENUMERATION>, p. <PAGE> - <FAMILY>.

This makes it quick and easy to find and cleanup errors. Periodically I do a sort, then quickly look for errors. This includes the path field in the Media.

./Doc/Book_<BOOK NAME>/ I have stored documents such as birth certificates, in a three ring binder. These are enclosed in acid free clear sleeves. The "<BOOK NAME>" is the name of the binder. Or you could create a directory for each book.

./Doc/Book_<BOOK NAME>/001-<TITLE>.jpeg These are the scans from the book. The first three digits are the page number of the acid free sleeve. Then a title (<TITLE>). This title is the same as I use for the Media title. Hence a path of ./Doc/Book_1/031-Birth_Record_Perkins_Gerald.png has a Media Title of "Birth Record Perkins, Gerald Dana"

./Doc/Census/ For a path of ./Doc/Census/california-humboldt-south_fork_township-1920-69-1b.jpeg, the Media title is "Census USA, California, Humboldt, South Fork Township 1920 69 p. 1B", then the Source Title would be "Census USA, California, Humboldt, South Fork Township 1920".

./Doc/Head_Shot/ Where I keep an individuals head shot. These are placed in People > Person > Gallery. Hence their picture shows up.

./Doc/Indiana_Marriage_Collection_1800-1941/

./Doc/Media_yyyy/ This is kind of my general catch all. I know, not good. It started to be so large that I started a new one every year. Slowly I have moved some to there proper directories.

./Doc/Military/ Example "Registration_Perkins_C_Ray.jpeg"

./Doc/Naturalization/ Example "Helwig_Otto.jpeg"

./Doc/Object/ These are photos of objects such as "Military_POW_Tag_Helwig_Charles.jpeg"

./Doc/Ship_Manifest/ I have been working on the format here. This is a current example sm-philadelphia_rhynland-m-1901-06-16.jpeg. Where philadelphia is the port of entry. And rhynland is the ship. i = Immigration document, m = manifest.

./Gramps/ The home of Gramps.

./Gramps-yyy-mm-dd/ If I try something that may make a mess of Gramps, I create a backup copy.

./Miscellaneous/ Currently store blank Census forms and the like.

./Need_To_Process/ Any new files, photos, etc that I need to process into Gramps. Kind of a holding area.

Duncan's system

The goal

I've decided to aim for a system designed to work on any computer made after 1994. This means I can put the files on virtually any media and virtually anyone can read them. But this comes at a cost:

File path lengths need to be limited to 256 characters (limit of Windows Path Size). Currently this requires manual checking.

Indicating unsure or incomplete dates

--1810ca--
or
--1810-09ca--
or
--1810before--
or
--1810-09-15before--
or
--1810-_-10--

Directory tree

Directory naming rules:

Top directory is <upper case letter><lower case start of range>-<lower case end of range>, ie Aa-z for all the As or Sl-z for surnames starting with Sl through to Sz. This may look like overkill but it is primarily to avoid directories with letters in only one case as these can change case without warning on older Windows systems, breaking Posix file paths.

Frederico's system

I'm converting my physical storage system from a ad-hoc solution based on a 2-ring binder with all the documents (organised by the Soza number) to a vertical filling system that is organised by manilla folders that contain all the relevant information for each family. The focus is thus less on the individual and more on the family. Using folders allow for a much easier way to aggregate all relevant documents (certificates, photos, research logs, etc) and also facilitates research since each folder is pretty much self-contained and can be easily retrieved when needed, and taken to the archives for investigation.

With that in mind it makes some sense to mirror this physical approach when organising digital documents, especially since every document has both a physical copy and a digital one. I am experimenting with creating a directory for each family under a Sources folder (it could also be named Families, or any other name really), like this:

./SMITH,John+BLACK,Mary
./LEWIS,Edward+MCDONALD,Jane

The contents follow the same rules as the physical archiving. Of note is the fact that each person is generally present in two different folder: as a son they are present in the folder of the parents, and as one of the members of a family they have their own folder. Documents related to pre-marriage events go into the parent's folder, and from the marriage onward to their own folder.

Filenames follow more or less the examples given, e.g. BAP--John_Smith--1830.png.

The advantages I can see so far are:

Consistency between physical archive and digital storage. It makes is easier to compare the completeness of both of them so they they are not our of sync.

Easy to access all documents that relate to a family. Since many documents have information that applies to more than one family member it makes sense.

Each directory can be archived and sent to someone else and all the relevant sources are contained therein.

Some disadvantages:

Storing the birth certificates (or any pre-marriage information) of an individual not under his own folder but under the parents' folder can be a bit counter-intuitive in the beginning.

Since it is Family based (and not Individual based) documents that relate to an individual are split between two folders.

Sometimes one doesn't have information about the marital status of an individual, and when that is latter discovered files could have to be moved. An example would be the military record of an individual that doesn't contain information about his marriage, and since there is no other source that contains such an information it is not possible to create a Family directory. When latter that information surfaces those documents would have to be moved to the Family folder.

Doug's System

I don't do anything special: I put all images in one directory, mostly. But some are in other places.

My philosophy is: if I need something special, such as all media connected to a person, I'll add that functionality to Gramps.

Your philosophy could be: if I need something special, I'll submit a feature request to Gramps.